Thank you for your interest, but we have closed signatures and delivered them to the Olympia Capitol groundskeepers. See press coverage of this effort here and here!

You can send your own thank you note to the following address:

Thank you, groundskeepers!

In response to ‘dandelion-gate,’ when senators spent over 20 minutes discussing and complaining about the presence of dandelions on the Olympia Capitol Campus grounds, we’ve written a thank you note to the hardworking grounds crew staff. They have been trying so hard to keep up with all the spring flowers without using pesticides! The Capitol crew has been experimenting with natural and sustainable landscaping, including organic weed control, repurposed compost and leaves used to enrich and activate soils, cardboard and wood chip layers used to suppress unwanted growth, and planting drought tolerate native plants for habitat. These changes make the area a safe and healthy environment for everyone!

Please sign this virtual thank you card and share with friends on social media. We will collect signatures until May 8, 2017 and then deliver to the groundskeeping staff.

The Capitol campus is noticeably full of spring flowers, healthy grass and historic trees!

We appreciate the hard work of the campus grounds crew and the landscapers, horticulturists, arborists, weed pullers, garbage collectors, custodians, and all the workers who take care of Olympia’s incredible and picturesque campus grounds.

Your natural and sustainable efforts make the area a safe and healthy environment for everyone–from senators to pollinators to kids to fish downstream. We appreciate your forward thinking, implementing new landscaping and turf care that reflects our values to end a reliance on harmful chemical pesticides.

Another way to think about it is to educate people that dandelions are a beneficial pollen producer for bees and some people consider them attractive! However, if the majority want to minimize dandelions, we appreciate you doing it in a non-toxic way. thanks! :)

Brian Gunn signed
2017-04-24 19:39:10 -0700

I applaud your efforts to beautify our capitol grounds in an eco-friendly way.

Thanks for staying clear of pesticides in the lawn. Don’t walk barefoot or put a child on any lawns that are free from flowers. )That would be a sign of pesticide usage.) If senators spent the same 20 minutes digging the weeds in early spring, there would be few weeds.

There’s nothing wrong with dandelions, clover and violets! Let the grass companions grow. We need to educate the public about the dangers of the chemicals that are being used to get that golf course look. That ‘perfect lawn’ looks perfectly toxic to me now that I know about the 2,4-D, the MCPP, the Dicamba, Prodiamine and all the many toxins that are applied to grass by conventional landscapers. Then, of course, a lot of glyphosate or RoundUp is sprayed all around the mulched areas and hardscapes of an unnatural and overly manicured landscape. Many towns and cities are working to keep these needless toxins off our grass. The are unnecessary, dangerous and when it rains… they all end up in our water. THANKYOU for your good sense in choosing safer measures. Harvard University has had organic landscaping for 10 years! France has recently banned cosmetic lawn chemicals. Parts of Canada sensibly banned them years ago. We can all work to make our environment better in our residential landscapes as well, if we make better choices, we will have healthier families, pets and a healthier planet.

Thanks for your efforts at sustainable landscape maintenance. Washington citizens who care about maintaining a healthy ecosystem appreciate it when our State Government employees set an example for all of us to follow.